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Cruising (1980)

Director:
William Friedkin
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Drama/Crime
NORWEGIAN TITLE
-
RUNNING TIME
102 minutes
Producer:
Jerry Weintraub
Screenwriter (based on the book by Gerald Walker):
William Friedkin


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Steve Burns Al Pacino
Captain Edelson Paul Sorvino
Nancy Gates Karen Allen ½
Stuart Richards Richard Cox ½
Ted Bailey Don Scardino
Patrolman DiSimone Joe Spinell
Skip Lee Jay Acovone
Hankie Salesman Powers Boothe

 

Review

New York cop Al Pacino takes on an undercover assignment of "cruising" the city's gay S&M scene in order to catch a serial killer, and finds himself more affected by the task than he had envisioned. William Friedkin's work here is typical of his early period; the film is dark, suggestive and provocative, both in imagery and tone. At the time of release, gay activists protested against the movie for being anti-gay, but if it is indeed anti anything, seen in retrospect, it is New York City anno 1980. The city is portrayed as cold and unrelenting, and the killer more as a symptom rather than a cause. Among several interesting aspects of this in many ways flawed film is the insight it gives in a section of the gay scene before the AIDS hysteria. Another is the psychology of the Steve Burns character, which is very much open to analysis, in large thanks to how Al Pacino balances him delicately on the ambiguous side.

Copyright © 13.06.2018 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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